Mikaela Shiffrin pursues World Cup overall title this weekend

By Nick ZaccardiMar 8, 2017, 2:45 PM EST

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Mikaela Shiffrin can all but wrap up the World Cup overall title this weekend, live on NBC Sports.

The Olympic slalom champion headlines the fields for giant slalom and slalom races at the penultimate World Cup stop in Squaw Valley, Calif., on Friday and Saturday.

Shiffrin’s unparalleled season to date includes nine World Cup wins — most by any man or woman — with six slaloms, two giant slaloms and a super combined.

She leads the standings for the World Cup overall title — the biggest annual prize in ski racing — by 178 points with six total races left. The season ends with the World Cup Finals in Aspen, Colo., next week, near Shiffrin’s Vail home.

Four years ago, Shiffrin had just become the youngest women’s world champion since 1985, taking the slalom at age 17. She followed that up by becoming the youngest Olympic slalom champion — man or woman — in Sochi.

Now, she’s on the verge of going into the Olympic year as the world’s best all-around female skier, the title associated with World Cup overall champion.

The overall title goes to the skier who accumulates the most points across all disciplines — downhill, super-G, giant slalom, slalom, super combined — over the course of more than 30 races in a season.

Shiffrin rarely starts downhill or super-G, but nobody in the world at the moment is capable of earning podiums in all five disciplines.

This weekend, Shiffrin can all but seize the crystal globe trophy for the overall title. The scoring system awards 100 points to race winners, 80 points to second place and 60 points to third in a descending scale all the way to the 30th-place finisher.

Shiffrin’s closest pursuer, Slovenian Ilka Stuhec, struggles in the disciplines on this weekend’s schedule in Squaw Valley.

If Shiffrin and Stuhec repeat their average giant slalom and slalom results, Shiffrin will increase her lead from 178 points to nearly 300 points this weekend. That would be a pretty much insurmountable lead with just four races left the following week in Aspen.

Shiffrin can become the youngest male or female overall champion since Croatian Janica Kostelic won the second of her three titles at age 21 in 2003.

She would become the fifth American to take the crown after Phil Mahre, Tamara McKinney, Bode Miller and Lindsey Vonn.

The Olympic season would bring a whole new set of expectations next fall, including this: the possibility of becoming the first U.S. woman to earn three gold medals at a single Winter Olympics.

Squaw Valley World Cup Schedule
Friday
Giant Slalom Run 1 — 1 p.m. ET, NBCSports.com/live, NBC Sports app
Giant Slalom Run 2 — 4 p.m. ET, NBCSports.com/live, NBC Sports app

Saturday
Slalom Run 1 — 1 p.m. ET, NBCSports.com/live, NBC Sports app
Slalom Run 2 — 4 p.m. ET, NBCSN, NBCSports.com/live, NBC Sports app

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Taylor Fritz becomes crowd enemy at French Open

Associated PressJun 1, 2023, 7:25 PM EDT

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The French Open crowd was not happy with American player Taylor Fritz after he beat one of their own — indeed, their last man in the bracket — so they booed and whistle relentlessly. Fritz’s response? He told them to shush. Over and over again.

Fritz, a 25-year-old from California who is seeded No. 9 at Roland Garros, got into a back-and-forth with the fans at Court Suzanne Lenglen after his 2-6, 6-4, 6-3, 6-4 comeback victory over 78th-ranked Arthur Rinderknech in the second round on Thursday night.

Rinderknech attempted a lob that landed long on the last point, and Fritz, who had been running toward the baseline to chase the ball, immediately looked up into the stands and pressed his right index finger to his lips to say, essentially, “Hush!”

.@Taylor_Fritz97 fights off Rinderknech and the French crowd to earn a 2-6 6-4 6-3 6-4 win!

Faces Cerundolo next for a spot in the Fourth Round. #RolandGarros pic.twitter.com/156koAad5w

— Tennis Channel (@TennisChannel) June 1, 2023

He held that pose for a bit as he headed back toward the net for a postmatch handshake, then spread his arms wide, wind-milled them a bit as if to egg on the rowdiness, and yelled: “Come on! I want to hear it!”

During the customary winner’s on-court interview that followed, more jeers rained down on Fritz, and 2013 Wimbledon champion Marion Bartoli kept pausing her attempts to ask a question into her microphone.

So Fritz again said, “Shhhhh!” and put his finger toward his mouth, while Bartoli unsuccessfully tried to get the spectators to lower their decibel level.

More boos. More whistles.

And the awkwardness continued as both Bartoli and a stadium announcer kept saying, “S’il vous plaît” — “Please!” — to no avail, while Fritz stood there with his arms crossed.

A few U.S. supporters with signs and flags drew Fritz’s attention from the front row, and he looked over and said to them, “I love you guys.”

But the interview was still on hold.

Bartoli tried asking a question in English, which only served to draw more boos.

So Fritz told her he couldn’t hear her. Bartoli moved closer and finally got out a query — but it didn’t seem to matter what her words were.

Fritz, who has been featured on the Netflix docuseries about tennis called “Break Point,” had his hands on his hips and a message on his mind — one reminiscent of Daniil Medvedev’s contretemps with fans at the 2019 U.S. Open.

“I came out and the crowd was so great honestly. Like, the crowd was just so great,” Fritz said, as folks tried to drown out his voice. “They cheered so well for me, I wanted to make sure that I won. Thanks, guys.”

And with that, he exited the stage.

FRENCH OPEN DRAWS: Women | Men | Broadcast Schedule

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"The crowd was just so great that I had to let it fire me up. They cheered so well for me, I wanted to make sure I won. Thanks guys." 😂@Taylor_Fritz97 | #RolandGarros pic.twitter.com/NieIPfo59e

— Tennis Channel (@TennisChannel) June 1, 2023

French Open: Coco Gauff to face younger opponent for first time at a Grand Slam

By OlympicTalkJun 1, 2023, 5:26 PM EDT

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Coco Gauff‘s first 49 Grand Slam main draw singles matches were all against older opponents. Her 50th will be against a younger one.

The sixth-seeded Gauff reached the French Open third round by beating 61st-ranked Austrian Julia Grabher 6-2, 6-3 on Thursday. Gauff, 19, next plays 16-year-old Russian Mirra Andreeva in the round of 32 on Saturday.

“I don’t see age as a factor,” said Gauff, who has practiced with Andreeva. “When you step on the court, you just see your opponent, and you don’t really think about the personal side of things. You just see forehand, backhand, serve, and all the same.”

Gauff made her major debut at age 15 in 2019 by beating Venus Williams at Wimbledon. In her 15 majors, Gauff has usually been the youngest male or female singles player, including most recently at 2022 Wimbledon. She is still the lone teenager in the WTA top 49.

But that may soon change. Youngsters from the Czech Republic and Russia are on the rise. Such as Andreeva, who, at No. 143 in the world and climbing, is the highest-ranked player under the age of 18. And she doesn’t turn 17 until next April. Andreeva dropped just six games in her first two matches, fewest of any woman.

FRENCH OPEN DRAWS: Women | Men | Broadcast Schedule

But Gauff is still in a class of her own among her generation, having at last year’s French Open become the youngest major finalist since Maria Sharapova won Wimbledon at 17. She somehow flew somewhat under the radar into Paris this year with a 4-4 record this spring and in between full-time coaches.

She has now won back-to-back matches for the first time since March, rallying past 71st-ranked Spaniard Rebeka Masarova in the first round and then dispatching an error-prone Grabher, a runner-up at a low-level clay event last week.

The other three seeds in Gauff’s section have all lost, so she would not play a seed until the quarterfinals. And that would be No. 1 Iga Swiatek, who has won all 12 sets they’ve played, including in last year’s French Open final.

“I lost that final, and like for like a week or two, I really thought it was the worst thing ever,” Gauff said. “There’s no point in me revisiting last year. It’s in the past. It was a great tournament, but I’m looking forward for more this week.”

While the men’s draw has been upended by 14-time champion Rafael Nadal‘s pre-event withdrawal and No. 2 seed Daniil Medvedev‘s loss in the first round, the top women have taken care of business.

The top four seeds — Swiatek, Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus, American Jessica Pegula and Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan — all reached the third round without dropping a set.

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